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Equity markets in Europe are trading higher, focusing on investors is the statement of the head of the Federal Reserve. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3% in the first minutes of trading, after strong growth in markets in Australia and Japan. However, in the early session, US index futures pointed to a neutral opening on Wall Street. Although investors do not expect interest rate changes at this stage, many will closely follow the policy statement of the US central bank to clarify when a bank can begin to reduce its portfolio of Treasury and mortgage bonds. Now the main risk is an earlier start to reduce the balance of the Fed. Against this background, yesterday the US dollar moved to strengthen. A moderate dollar rebound eased the pressure of recent sessions on European and Asian exchanges, reinforcing local currencies. After rising to a nearly two-year high, the Euro fell by 0.2% against the dollar and today is trading at 1.1630. The dollar fell significantly against the yen. Strengthening commodity prices also supported stock markets. Brent crude rose 0.8% to $ 50.76 a barrel after the American Petroleum Institute reported that US crude stocks fell 10 million barrels last week. Australian inflation figures were weaker than expected, but the Australian central bank on Wednesday rejected any need to change its position on raising interest rates. The Australian dollar fell 0.5% against the US dollar. In Japan, the dollar rebound helped the Nikkei index rise to a round 0.5% after three days of decline. In addition to the Fed’s decision, the focus on sales of new homes in the US is now in focus.